A crime that shocked the nation, it tested the UK’s police forces to their limits. It also shone a spotlight on the growing power of number plate recognition technology to tackle much more than speeding vehicles.
It all started with a robbery in Bradford. The plan was to steal thousands of pounds in foreign currency from Universal Express Travel, a family-run travel agency in the area, which the perpetrators had targeted due to their dealings in foreign currency for travellers.
Believing a delivery to be due on the day of the robbery, the gang had hoped to make away with over £100,000 worth of foreign cash. However, reports claim they only left with around £6,000 worth, and when officers arrived after a 999 call, a shootout commenced.
It was here when PC Sharon Beshenivsky was fatally shot at the scene, with her colleague PC Milburn also shot, but surviving. The gang fled in a silver Toyota Corolla, assuming that their fake number plates were enough to cover their tracks.
Understandably, the murder led to a national manhunt, with PC Beshenivsky becoming the first female officer killed on duty in two decades.
As time passed with a lack of leads and a car with fake number plates, investigators sought the help of ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras.
It was here when they realised that one of the suspects, Mustaf Jama, managed to flee the UK with his sister’s passport, making it to Somalia. After years of international cooperation and negotiations, Jama was arrested and extradited back to the UK where he was convicted of the murder in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison.
ANPR systems were used to trace the movements of Jama’s vehicle, which had travelled across the country, making it into Europe. And while Jama had fled beyond the reach of UK police initially, other gang members were captured relatively quickly thanks to tracking number plates with ANPR cameras.
All in all, the technology helped narrow down the search and ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of several gang members. Without this ability to track the registration plate across borders, key suspects might have escaped justice, not to mention Jama himself.
The Bradford murder of PC Beshenivsky was unique and led to police forces implementing creative ways to catch criminals in major investigations.
As a result, ANPR technology is now used daily to detect stolen vehicles, track criminal behaviour, and stop suspects trying to flee the country.
Of course, the crime was a tragedy, but it also brought about a key development in modern policing, embracing seemingly unrelated technology in new ways to deliver justice, regardless of borders.